Today a white supremacist committed acts of terror at the Al Noor and Linwood Mosques in Christchurch,
New Zealand. The terrorist intended their act to be divisive and catalyze further acts of violence. They intended their message of hate to go viral.
Instead, we choose to lift up the voices of our Muslim siblings in our theatre movement and beyond. We choose to honor those using theatre to fight against Islamophobia, xenophobia, and all interconnected forms of oppression. Let us work to make those voices of healing and justice go viral. And in that spirit, I wanted to share a moment from the 2017 TCG National Conference where our movement bore witness.
On June 10, as anti-Muslim rallies were held in 28 cities (“March Against Sharia”) across the United States, Malik Gilani, founding artistic director of Silk Road Rising, recited Surah Al-Fatiha ("The Opening") from the Holy Quran front of hundreds of our colleagues as part of our closing session, "How We Move Forward." As Malik wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times:
"We often say that art heals. In reciting the prayer before my colleagues, my heart was healed from the pain I was experiencing on that very dark day. Reciting 'The Opening' flooded my soul with light.
Afterwards, people came up to me to say thank you. I told them it was a privilege to be able to share my faith. One said that it was his privilege to witness my sharing.
As a theater producer, I’ve often said there is no theater without an audience experiencing the art. At the conference, reciting a prayer before a majority non-Muslim audience allowed me to experience Islam’s essence: submitting myself to God’s will, his divinity, and the space his creations made for me to live my faith openly. As a gay Muslim, the idea of being out and open resonates on multiple levels."
Today and every day we are called to bear witness against Islamophobia, and we can do that by supporting the work of Muslim theatre artists as well as theatres like Silk Road Rising and Golden Thread Productions whose support for those artists is intrinsic to their missions. We can celebrate work created by, for, and with Muslim peoples, like Ping Chong + Co's Beyond Sacred. We can disrupt Islamophobia in our own actions and organizations. We can reach out to our Muslim friends and colleagues and let them know they are loved and supported. And we can read again the Al-Fatiha and move together on the path of compassion, mercy, and grace.
Al-Fatiha
Bismillaah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem
Al hamdu lillaahi rabbil ‘alameen
Ar-Rahman ar-Raheem Maaliki yaumid Deen
Iyyaaka na’abudu wa iyyaaka nasta’een
Ihdinas siraatal mustaqeem
Siraatal ladheena an ‘amta’ alaihim
Ghairil maghduubi’ alaihim waladaaleen
Aameen
The Opening
In the name of God, the infinitely Compassionate and Merciful.
Praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds.
The Compassionate, the Merciful. Ruler on the Day of Reckoning.
You alone do we worship, and You alone do we ask for help.
Guide us on the straight path,
the path of those who have received your grace;
not the path of those who have brought down wrath, nor of those who wander astray.
Amen.
Al-Fatiha translated by Kabir Helminski.
#Witnessing#Islam#TheatresOfColor#Terrorism#DisasterResponse#TCG17